The Finnish race reached a high degree of civilization at a very early
period. They have always been distinguished by a love of poetry,
especially for the elegy, and they abound in tales, legends and
proverbs. Until the middle of the twelfth century they had their own
independent kings, since then they have been alternately conquered by
the Russians and Swedes; but like the Poles, they have preserved a
strong national feeling, and have kept their native language. Their
greatest literary monument is the Kalevala, an epic poem. Elias
Lonnrot, its compiler, wandered from place to place in the remote and
isolated country in Finland, lived with the peasants, and took from
them their popular songs, then he wrote the Kalevala, which bears a
strong resemblance to Hiawatha. Max Muller says that this poem deserves
to be classed as the fifth National Epic in the world, and to rank with
the Mahabharata and the Nibelungen-lied. The songs are doubtlessly the
work of different minds in the earliest ages of the nation.